The next week, Harry stayed over at Dick's after having persuaded his parents to put his training schedule on hold. His dad hadn't really wanted to, but his mom could never say no to Harry's puppy eyes and had quickly overruled his dad's decision. That was something she wouldn't try on anything other than Harry's upbringing or it could get her killed.
It was definitely fun. Harry and Dick planned out several pranks, met up with Bette, Gabe and Barbara and the five of them quickly had the entire town remember the good old days before Harry had been shipped off to Hogwarts. It also turned out that many of his old classmates believed Harry had taken up residency in Arkham. A rumor Nicky had apparently spread and Harry gladly played along with.
He told stories to kids they met when going out, telling them things about Arkham. Most of them weren't even lies, which made the whole things so much better. He had even gotten his friends so far as they all told another story as he would keep to the Arkham one.
Dick, on his own suggestion, would tell everyone that Harry was Batman's sidekick Robin (if only he knew the truth) and didn't have time outside his training. Bette decided to tell everyone that Harry was a secret genius and went to Harvard already. Barbara told everyone that Harry went to a closed institution in Switzerland for incurable criminal boys called St. Brutus. And lastly, Gabe would tell the truth – that Harry went to a school for Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland.
It was the day before that Harry would go back home after a whole week at Dick's and the two friends were out into town. They didn't really have a goal, but as soon as Harry saw the Ice-cream shop, he grinned brightly at his friend.
"Let's go for some Ice-cream. I'm hungry!" Harry announced cheerfully, grabbing Dick's hand to pull him along towards the parlor.
"You're not hungry! You just want some ice-cream!" Dick laughed.
"I'll wait here, get me a horn with pistachio will you."
"Sir, yes sir!" Harry replied, saluting playfully.
Dick laughed as he watched Harry skip into the shop and shook his head fondly. He had really missed his best friend while he was away, and only spending those few days together with Christmas hadn't really gotten rid of the lonely feeling of suddenly being without the fun-loving jokester.
"How can he live in this place! It's so gloomy!" a girl's voice with a very clear British lilt to it cried out.
"He did say Gotham wasn't visitor friendly," a boy's voice with the same accent replied.
"But honestly, I hadn't expected him to be so serious about it. He always jokes about things."
That last part was what made Dick turn around to look at the three kids, all about his and Harry's age. The two boys, a dark skinned one with black hair and a pale one with platinum blond hair, were wearing neat black shirts and dress pants, and the girl, dark hair and a bit of a cruel face, wore a green summer dress. Behind them stood a dark-skinned man with long black hair that was tied in the back of his neck. He was wearing a simple white shirt and bleached jeans.
"Let's just bloody find the twat," the blonde grouched.
"Hey!" Dick called, waving at them.
"You don't happen to look for Harry, right?"
"We happen to be looking for a Harry, yes," the dark skinned boy said, eyeing him dubiously.
"Well, my Harry's buying ice-creams right now," Dick told them grinning.
"If you wait here for a bit, we'll know if it's the same Harry. He goes to a boarding school in Scotland, so-"
Just the, Harry walked out of the store, an ice-cream in each hand. His eyes widened in shock when he saw Dick talking to the three stranger's.
"Draco? Blaise? Pansy?" he exclaimed shocked.
"And buff dude I've never seen before…"
"Qui-" the blonde started, frowning, but Harry jumped forward before he could finish.
"HEY! What are you guys doing all the way in Gotham?!" he asked loudly, grinning at them.
"Looking for you, obviously," the girl, Pansy as Dick now knew she was called, said.
"You promised to write, remember? But you didn't! We were getting worried some muggles got to you."
Dick blinked in confusion and cocked his head.
"Muggles?" he asked confused.
"People like my dead relatives, but alive," Harry replied quickly.
"Can you give us a moment, please? I need to talk to these guys."
Dick nodded in understanding, his face dark when he thought about Harry's relatives and how they had abused him. Harry smiled gratefully and handed both ice-cream cones to Dick. One with two scoops of pistachio, and one with strawberry, chocolate, banana, and cookie dough.
Harry quickly led the three kids a bit further away, out of Dick hearing and grabbed Draco by the wrist. His grip was tight enough to make the blonde wince, but Harry didn't let up and just glared at the boy.
"Don't call me Quinn around here," he hissed lowly.
"Why not?" Pansy asked confused.
Harry turned to look at her and grinned darkly. The girl flinched back a bit at the sight of it, making Harry chuckle softly. He let go of Draco and took a step closer to Pansy, making the poor girl shiver in fear.
"Because it's considered the Gotham equivalent of Death Eater," he explained.
"Harry Potter, a Death Eater?" Blaise asked shocked.
"Definitely don't call me that," Harry growled at him, glaring.
"None of you have any right to be here anyway, so for now, I'm only Harry."
"We just came here because we wanted to know what happened to you," Draco told him scowling.
"You never replied to any of our letters, and I didn't even get a thanks for that present I send you for your birthday!"
"I'll explain what that was about, but not here and not now," Harry replied coolly.
"Tell me where you're staying and I'll visit you guys tonight. I'm out with a friend now."
"We noticed," Draco replied, disdain dripping from his tone as he glared Dick's way.
Harry grinned darkly at that and stepped into Draco's space, making the blonde tense up at the suddenness. He gently stroked the side of Draco's face and leaned in closer. Draco stopped breathing, too afraid to move away from the clearly mentally disturbed 12 year-old.
"Problem with his blood, Draco?" Harry asked sweetly.
Before Draco could reply, he suddenly grabbed the blonde's jaw forcefully and turned his head so their noses were brushing. Draco gulped in fear when he noticed the angry sneer Harry was sporting all of a sudden and tried to jerk away, only to find Harry's grip was too tight.
"Criticize the people I hang out with again, and your precious 'pure' blood will be painting the street."
With that, Harry let go of Draco again and smiled innocently, he took a step away. Draco gasped and stumbled backwards, his face now ashen pale in fear as he hid behind a petrified Blaise. Pansy whimpered softly and shuffled closer to the two boys she had come with, watching Harry fearfully.
"See you guys tonight, then?" Harry asked cheerfully.
The three of them nodded quickly, making Harry giggle a bit. The raven waved at them, still smiling brightly before skipping back towards Dick and the strange man.
"Dick! You ate my ice-cream!" Harry whined, playfully swatting at his friend.
Dick laughed and ducked away from the hit, teasingly licking Harry's chocolate scoop again. Harry pouted for a moment, just standing there and looking like a kicked puppy. When Dick stopped laughing as well, blinking in surprise, he grinned and pounced.
"You better pay up for that!" Harry laughed.
"Or I might just decide to eat you instead!"
To make sure Dick knew just how serious Harry was, he licked Dick's cheek, leaving a large wet trail.
"Gross!" Dick exclaimed, pushing Harry away and handing him what was left of his ice.
"Let's go to my place. Maybe we can get Alfred to make us some pancakes or something."
Harry threw his hands up and whooped happily before jumping at Dick and hugging him tight, kissing his cheek. Dick just laughed and pushed Harry off again, only for the other to quickly cling to him again.
Draco, Blaise and Pansy were watching with mixed feelings as their classmate walked off with the muggle boy. Their friendship seemed so innocent and cute, but knowing Harry like they did, they were sure it would never last.
"Let's go back to the hotel," Blaise muttered.
"We don't want to anger Harry again, do we?"
The other two nodded solemnly and followed Blaise. Alejandro, Gisela's new husband, and Blaise's step-dad, frowned and followed the kids. He wasn't sure why he agreed to be their adult supervision on this ridiculous trip. It probably had something to do with when and how his wife had asked him.
. . . . .
"I'll be leaving then!" Harry said cheerfully, hugging Dick.
"See you again soon," Dick mumbled.
Harry grinned and stepped away from his friend before grabbing his luggage. Bruce, who had been standing close by watching the two of them, stepped forward.
"Before you go. A word," he said to Harry, motioning to the front door.
Harry scowled but nodded. Slowly, he waved at Dick and stepped out of the house, Bruce following behind him. The man closed the door behind them and turned to look at Harry with a deep scowl. Harry cocked his head to the side, confused as to what he would possibly want to discuss.
"I should have done this years ago, but Dick always assured me it only happened once…" he started.
Oh. Oooh. Well that wasn't exactly what Harry had expected.
"My dad doesn't 'abuse' me," he said calmly.
"He hit me once in the heat of the moment after we got in a big argument. It's nothing."
"You showed up at our door with a pretty big bruise last week too."
"I told Dick that I was-"
"Attacked by some punks, I know," Bruce cut him off.
"Look, I'm just worried, alright? A lot of your mannerism would be explained if you were being abused by your parents."
"Then maybe it's something that stuck from when I lived with my aunt and uncle," Harry muttered through clenched teeth.
"They starved me, you know? Made me sleep on a cot in the cupboard and forced me to do all the chores. When I left there when I was five, I was a shivering mindless wreck. I waited for the other shoe to drop for almost two years after my parents adopted me."
"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean-"
"I'm sure you didn't," Harry drawled sarcastically.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going back to my awesome non-abusive parents."
With that, he turned away and stepped up to Dave's car.
. . . . .
Child's Play enjoyed jumping roofs. Usually, he was being chased when doing so, but not this time. He wasn't on his way to commit a crime, no, he was planning on visiting the hotel he knew his school friends were staying at. It was the most expensive one in Gotham. Of course it was. These were the Pureblood snobs after all. If they had to stay at a muggle establishment, it would be the very best.
The Gotham Hotel was a classy establishment with easy roof access, even if they had a lot of security cameras in the hallways inside. Child's Play wasn't planning on actually using halls though. Instead, he cast a sticking charm on himself and scaled the walls. He had already hacked into the database earlier to figure out in which room they were staying. Under the name Zabini, unsurprisingly.
He jumped on the balcony of the room where the tree young teens were staying and opened the window. All three looked up when he stepped in and Draco even pulled out his wand, stepping in front of Pansy protectively.
"Who are you?!" the blonde asked bravely.
"What a noble gentleman! I'm swooning!" Child's Play said teasingly.
He pulled off his goggles and grinned at the three in front of him with sparkly blue eyes. He blinked a few times, willing them back to their original color. Ignoring the gasp of shock from Pansy, he pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve. He gave a soft laugh at the wide-eyed stares he received as the cloth kept going for a long while, going through all the colors of the rainbow.
"Quinn…" Draco muttered, eyes narrowing.
"Guessed right in the first try! Kudos for you, Drakey!" Harry laughed as he cleaned the make-up off his face.
"What the hell is that outfit about!"
Harry snickered and smirked at his friend as he ruffled his own hair, turning it black once more.
"I told you before, right? Quinn's the Gotham equivalent of Death Eater," he said.
"Well, I guess it's more of an equivalent to Bellatrix Lestrange. But it doesn't change the fact that I need a disguise if I go out doing 'bad' things!"
"B-bad things?" Pansy whimpered.
"bad things as in Death Eater bad?" Blaise asked suspicious.
"Bad as in I want to blow up a building for fun!" Harry replied laughing.
He twirled giggling in front of his heavily disturbed friends before suddenly turning dead serious.
"I only tell you this because I know you won't betray me," he spoke coldly.
"And when I find that anyone becomes aware of my double life, I will hunt you three down and kill you."
The three friends shivered in fear and nodded in agreement. None of them doubted that what Harry said was anything but the truth, even if he tended to lie so often. Harry smiled happily and bounced over to the couch and plopped down with a playful giggle.
"I'm so lucky with such great and understanding friends!" he giggled before sobering up again.
"But that's not why I'm here, and it's definitely not why you guys are, right?"
"Y-yeah," Blaise muttered.
"We were worried!" Pansy exclaimed.
"We wrote you all these letters but you never answered!"
"I was busy," Harry replied shrugging.
"That's the downside of a double life I guess. I focus on what's the most interesting and useful. None of you proved interesting during the year, so I had no reason. I do apologize for worrying you."
"It's fine, I guess," Pansy muttered blushing.
"You better not do it again, though," Draco growled bitterly.
"I won't, I won't!" Harry laughed.
"If you keep me entertained, of course."
"We're not your personal performance monkeys, Quinn!" Blaise reminded him frowning.
"You're right! You're people and if you hang around, you'll learn how I treat people," Harry said.
"Just so you know, I don't give a shit about whether they're wizards or muggles. If it bleeds, it dies."
The other three shivered in fear, making Harry smirk darkly as he got back up from the couch and went to stand in front of Blaise, leaning forward until their noses brushed. The other boy was trembling, which only made Harry's smirk widen to an evil, deranged grin.
"Do you bleed?" he asked softly.
"Not in front of you," Blaise replied quietly.
Harry chuckled and patted his cheek.
"Smart boy," he teased before turning away.
A moment later, Malinda appeared from Harry's sleeve and the young teen grinned happily.
*Sleep well?* he asked her, ignoring the shocked reactions of his friends.
*I was woken up from the smell of fear,* Malinda replied in a hiss.
*Are you scaring them again, Hatchling? Shouldn't you keep your friends close?*
*I should, but this is more fun.*
"You're a Parseltongue?!" Pansy screeched.
"Yes, I most certainly am!" Harry replied happily as he wrapped the snake around his neck like a scarf.
"Now! I'll be going again. You know. Buildings to blow up, lives to ruin and all! Draco, come with me."
The blonde scowled and followed after him as he went back to the balcony.
"I'm not going with you killing people," Draco told him as the window was closed behind them.
"Wasn't planning on killing anyone today," Harry replied shrugging.
"I just said that because I liked how freaked out they looked."
"So you don't kill?" Draco asked, honestly shocked for a moment.
"Of course I don't!" Harry laughed, rolling his eyes.
"Jesus! I'm fucking twelve! No. the reason I didn't write you back because a house elf stole my mail."
Draco scowled confused at that.
"A house elf?" he asked.
"Yeah! Claimed that Hogwarts is dangerous for me or something," Harry replied.
"I told him that I was going to go back anyway, even if all my friends supposedly forgot about me."
"Oh," Draco mumbled.
"We talked it out nice and easy, and he gave them back," Harry said cheerfully.
Draco nodded in understanding, but soon, his face crinkled again in a confused scowl.
"Then why did you tell us you forgot about us?" he asked.
"Why that whole creepy story about killing people and blowing stuff up when it was just some elf?"
"Because I like freaking you guys out!"
"You're the worst, Quinn," Draco muttered before sighing.
"We'll be leaving again tomorrow morning, so I guess next time we see each other is at the train."
"Enjoy the rest of your holiday, Drakey-poo!" Harry laughed as he put his mask back.
His hair and eyes turned back to their disguised color and clown make-up seemed to just appear on his face as Harry jumped from the balcony as Child's Play. A small cushioning charm allowed him to land safely on the ground beneath and he quickly apparated back home.
"Are you still up?" Joker asked when Harry appeared in the living room with a loud crack.
"It past midnight on a crimeless night! Get to bed!"
Harry laughed and saluted before rushing off towards his bedroom.